It was Marvel Night in Rochester, New York, as the hometown Knighthawks welcomed the Albany FireWolves to town. Rochester sported some slick indigenous Black Widow inspired uniforms and looked to use those superpowers to get bragging rights over their interstate foes. The crowd was buzzing as this was the first Rochester home game in over a month.
Rochester had a perfect start and perfect ending to this game. In the first quarter, the Knighthawks blanked the FireWolves and buried three goals of their own. After some back-and-forth in the middle two quarters, the fourth quarter was another beatdown by Rochester, as they scored six-straight and held Albany scoreless for another 14:03. Almost 30 minutes of holding your opponent scoreless sounds like the perfect recipe to me. Rochester took this one with ease, 14-7.
Like we said, the first quarter deserved a chef’s kiss for Rochester. Their defense was physical and stingy, and Rylan Hartley looked like the goaltender of old. Amongst both of those things, the K-Hawks buried three goals of their own to only boost their momentum. Those goals were scored by Connor Fields, Curtis Knight, and Ryan Smith on the power play. 3-0 Rochester after one.
Albany finally broke their scoreless streak as Will Johansen buried his first, but here came Rochester right away. The Knighthawks, after quite a bit of up-and-down the floor, scored two-straight, one from Fields and the other from Smith, just 17 seconds apart. Dyson Williams notched his first on the power play to close out the quarter. 5-2 Rochester at the break.
“As a group, I think we wanted to build off last week”, said Fields. “Each week we want to be getting better, I think we came out strong and our defense played great that half. I think our defense and goaltending are as good as it gets. I think they’ve held us in a lot of games this year, we’re thankful to have them back there.”
Both goaltenders saw their fair share of shots in the first half. On one side, Doug Jamieson saw quite a few, stopping 27 of 32 in impressive fashion. On the other side, Hartley looked like he had returned to form, stopping an equally impressive 18 of 20.
The scoring picked up in the third quarter and as Albany crept closer, Rochester kept them at bay. The Knighthawks boosted their lead with the first two of the frame, one from Thomas McConvey and the other from Ryland Rees. McConvey’s goal was a bullet from just inside the restraining line and Rees went from one end of the floor to the other completely untouched before bouncing a shot that went in. Albany roared back in their own right, as they answered with three-straight. Those goals were scored by Sam Firth on the power play, Colton Watkinson, and Williams. Knight buried his second to close out the third on a beautiful give-and-go. 8-5 Rochester after three.
Albany really came out hot in the fourth, to the point where it almost looked like the comeback was in full swing. Two-straight FireWolves goals cut the deficit to one and the momentum had swung. Those two were scored by Alex Simmons and Williams, both on the power play. Notice how I said it almost looked like the comeback was on. Almost, because it wasn’t. Those two Albany goals would be it the rest of the way. Once again, Rochester completely shut down the FireWolves offense, all the while closing the game on a 6-0 run. Those six Rochester goals were scored by Ryan Lanchbury twice, Smith twice, Graydon Hogg, and Jake Piseno. The last four of that run were all on the power play. That gave us our final from the 585, 14-7 Rochester.
Funny moment after Hogg’s goal, as it was reviewed because he dove and landed in the crease. Crew chief Todd Labranche exited the box with his decision and hit us with the quote of the century. “After review, my partner nailed it and I was wrong, we have a good goal”, said Labranche. God, can’t this dude referee every game?
Players of the game for Rochester were Smith (4+3), Fields (2+5), and Lanchbury (2+4). Hartley was a sicko all game long, stopping 36 of 43. For Albany, Williams (3+1), Simmons (1+3), and Firth (1+1) led the way. Jamieson had his shining moments but would like to forget about that final stretch. He stopped 50 of 63 in 56:19 of game play. Andrew Kidd stopped two of two in relief.
“Yeah, healthy is an unfamiliar word for me”, said Hartley after the game. “The boys are helping me huge, that number on the board is our defense doing their job and getting me easy shots. Things weren’t going our way at the beginning, but we have to keep rolling and worry about what’s next, we have to worry about the Knighthawks.”
Rochester (6-7) must feel good about that win, as they continue to scale the standings in hopes of a playoff spot. They hit the road for their next contest against Las Vegas (3-9). That game is this Friday at 10:30pm. Albany (3-9) needs to find some consistency and some answers. They look to get back into the win column as they also hit the road to take on Philadelphia (5-6). That game is this Saturday at 7pm.
